With his old friend Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in hiding and his Egyptian holiday host, Hosni Mubarak, on trial, Tony Blair could be forgiven for taking no chances with his own fate.

At a Michelin-starred restaurant where the former prime minister dined last week, dark-suited men who appeared to be protection officers were seen entering the kitchen to taste the food before it was served. The chef at Le Bernardin in Manhattan, Eric Ripert, says: “We have more secret service and food tasters than clients … courtesy of UN meeting in New York. No pictures, of course.”

The only other prominent figure at Le Bernardin at the time was Nursultan Nazarbayev, the controversial president of Kazakhstan.